


Doomed From the Start

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: KuroDai 2019 [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Police & Yakuza, Angst, Future Fic, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Injury, M/M, Mutually Unrequited, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Past Child Abuse, Police, Serial Killers, mix of Break Out Kings and Psycho Pass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-23
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-11 19:03:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19932997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Kuroo is trying his hardest not to fall for his partner, who happens to be a convicted felon suspected of multiple homicides, but Sawamura Daichi is a hard man not to love.





	Doomed From the Start

“Who the fuck did you assign to me?” Kuroo asked, voice still a harsh rasp from having a tube assist him in breathing for almost an entire day. His side throbbed in time with his accelerated heartbeat, his comm system beeped helpfully to tell him that his readings were showing elevated signs of stress.

“You want to say that again, Officer?” Ukai asked, unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth as he gave Kuroo an unimpressed look. Kuroo never had a problem controlling his anger before, most would say that he was a person not easily upset. But everytime he closed his eyes he saw bodies falling, one after another. Kuroo swallowed forcefully and rolled his left shoulder to try and alleviate some of the tension running through his body.

“We are only supposed to work with Class B felons and below.” Kuroo stated. His tone was still a little too harsh but he was practically begging for a confrontation. He should have known better when facing off against Chief Ukai Keishin.

“Your partner is considered Class C.” Ukai shrugged before striking a match and lighting his cigarette. Kuroo narrowed his eyes at the puff of smoke the Chief exhaled.

“Bullshit.” Kuroo went to press a hand against his throbbing side but dropped it at the last moment. As much as he wanted to put pressure against the barely healed knife wound he knew that would only cause more pain and possibly further the damage done.

“I think what you need is more medical leave.” Ukai drawled out, eyes sharp and unimpressed. Kuroo thought the only reason he wasn’t being chewed out for his clear insubordination was because he had been severely injured in the line of duty due to misinformation. He had been sent in unprepared and outnumbered and it had nearly cost him his life.

“He incapicitated five men without the use of deadly force or a weapon.” Kuroo hadn’t approved the weapon because they had only been sent for surveillance. “No low class convict is capable of that.” Kuroo stared down at the chief knowing he was putting his career on the line for this but he wasn’t sure he could continue to work for a department that flat out lied and endangered him.

With the growing population prisons became quickly overcrowded. It meant that lower class convicts were released early to make more room and they often went out and continued their life of crime. The government came up with a work release program. Those who had shown they were capable of change had a choice, they could be assigned to a department and be strictly monitored for reduced sentences. Those who broke the rules were sent back to lockup with no chance of release.

Kuroo Tetsurou had been working with the police department for going on fifteen years and had always volunteered to be assigned felons. Most he had just help with paperwork and surveillance, a handful had been more helpful than that and he had sent a couple back to prison. He never really had a connection with any of them, he thought they were complete opposites. Kuroo had lived his life to protect others, to uphold the law while they fought against that.

Until he was assigned Sawamura Daichi that was. Sawamura looked nothing like the convicts Kuroo had babysat before. Sawamura was quick-witted, easily angered, friendly, and a complete mystery to Kuroo. He could never guess what the other man had done, the files of the convicts were always out of his clearance level but he had never minded much. Sometimes Kuroo would catch a flicker in Sawamura’s deep brown eyes, the smallest glimpse of something wild that was just waiting.

Then they had gotten ambushed together. Kuroo had been taken out first, a knife to the side and a kick to the head that had left him slipping in and out of consciousness. The two metal bracers around Sawamura’s wrists should have shocked him when he showed any sign of violence but either they had malfunctioned or the painful stimulus was something easily ignored. Sawamura had taken out each and every one of them, the worst injury amongst them was a dislocated shoulder and a bad concussion. Kuroo had been training his body since he was a teenager and he still wasn’t sure if he could have taken the other men out as efficiently.

“Sit down before you pass out.” Ukai grumbled and Kuroo did as he was ordered. Ukai took a long drag of his cigarette before exhaling slowly. “He was charged with reckless driving. He was speeding, ran a red light and lost control of his car. He caused a bit of destruction of private property.”

“That’s what he was charged with but that’s not the whole story is it?” Kuroo wondered out loud. Ukai smiled but it wasn’t a happy expression.

“Unofficially he is suspected in eight separate homicides.” Kuroo’s eyebrows rose in surprise but Ukai wasn’t done yet. “One of those murders happened while he was incarcerated. Damn cameras went out during a storm they had the very night he was locked up so there was no proof. None of the other inmates would admit to seeing anything.”

“And you thought it was a good idea that he be allowed out?” Kuroo asked in disbelief.

“Sawamura Daichi was born into a good family, a big one too.” Ukai shoved the butt of his cigarette into the ashtray before immediately lighting another. “Neighbors reported hearing some strange noises, by the time the police got there it looked like a massacre. Blood, gore, and bodies littered the entire house. They had been having a birthday party for the grandfather. The youngest bodies were that of Sawamura Daichi’s younger twin siblings, who were seven years old at the time. He was left alive but not for lack of trying.”

“That’s a tragic backstory but that doesn’t excuse murder.” Eight murders would make him a serial killer.

“I’m not done yet.” Ukai narrowed his eyes and Kuroo clenched his mouth shut. He knew he was on thin ice but he didn’t see where Ukai was going with this. He wouldn’t feel sorry for Sawamura, he wouldn’t. “Before the massacre of the Sawamura household they had several offers to buy their land, but they had lived there for generations and weren’t looking to sell. After the murders all the surrounding people suddenly decided they needed to sell. All the people Sawamura killed had ties to the yakuza who were suspected of the murders but no one could find any solid connections. All they had was a traumatized kid with holes in his memories.”

“You knew them, you knew him didn’t you?” Kuroo asked because it was the only thing that truly made sense. Ukai saw a lot of potential in most people but he was short on patience. He wouldn’t give a second chance to a killer with Sawamura’s background unless he was personally invested in him.

“If you have an issue with partnering with him I can reassign him to someone else.” Ukai said instead of answering Kuroo, which might as well have been an answer in itself. “Kita needs a new partner and I could have another assigned to you when you return from your medical leave.” Ukai’s eyes were sharp and unforgiving, he wasn’t going to budge on this if Kuroo made any further inquiry about this. Kuroo had always had an ear for accents and he thought Ukai and Sawamura had similar ones.

“That won’t be necessary, sir.” Kuroo stood up, biting back a wince as his side twinged in pain at the sudden movement. He gave a quick bow of his head, not to be disrespectful but more to contain any further pains. “I will return to duty on Monday.” It was Wednesday, five days should be enough for both of them to cool off. Five days for Kuroo to decide what he was going to do with all this new information.

Kuroo rubbed his shoulder as he left the chiefs office. He really did need to go home and rest, probably eat a real meal that wasn’t provided by the hospital he had been stuck in. Even as those thoughts ran through his head his feet took him in the opposite direction of his small apartment located one train and a bus away from the station.

The chief should have known that Kuroo never left anything alone. It was what made him such a good officer in the first place and a pain in the ass as a friend. He never left well enough alone, he could help himself.

It didn’t help that at the end of this mystery was a man with soft brown eyes, a chiseled jaw and smooth as honey voice that had held Kuroo as they waited for the ambulance. The please don’t leave me spoken against Kuroo’s temple as he slipped in and out of consciousness made more sense now. Exactly how many family members had Sawamura watch die? At least his younger siblings and his grandfather, that made three. It sounded like only an error in judgement had left Sawamura alive, that he was supposed to be buried right next to his deceased family members.

Kuroo reminded himself of the eight unnamed people Sawamura Daichi had killed. Heavily suspected of killing, he was clever enough not to leave any evidence. Scary enough that no one in the prison would report him even for a reduced sentence. Kuroo had seen the look in Sawamura’s eyes when he took out their attackers, he hadn’t viewed them as people, only obstacles. No matter what Kuroo always knew the people he was facing off against were living, breathing human beings but Sawamura seemed to have a disconnect there.

Physically no lines had been crossed. Kuroo valued his job and reputation too much to betray those that trusted him with such a task. There was the problem of power imbalance between the two of them. Kuroo basically held Sawamura’s life in his hands and he would never want to make the other man believe that he had to trade himself to stay in the position he was offered.

No, Kuroo would never do anything to cross that line. He never even came close to toeing it, never would use his authority of someone like that. But it didn’t change the fact that Kuroo couldn’t control his mind or feelings as well as he could control his body and actions.

Kuroo liked Sawamura Daichi. The physical attributes were nice to look at. The broad shoulders, thick legs, and a warm smile that showed a singular dimple when he was truly amused by something. But it was more than that. Sawamura had a personality that drew people in, even those who knew he was a convict couldn’t help but laugh when he did, lean closer when he spoke, want to interact with him when they crossed paths. Kuroo was pulled into the other man's orbit just the same as everyone else.

Sometimes Kuroo could swear that Sawamura felt if not the same then something similar. The other man flirted when no one else was around to see, he pushed into Kuroo’s space in a way that was more inviting than demanding. He poked and prodded Kuroo right back when Kuroo decided to try and provoke Sawamura’s ire.

Kuroo walked to the building attached to the police station. It had a keycode to get in, two guards that had to buzz the door open, then a third door that could only be opened by a card. Kuroo was surprised Ukai hadn’t deactivated his but he made it through and up to the third floor. The rooms were small, big enough to fit a bed and wardrobe. Each floor shared a bathroom and the doors locked from the outside. The people who lived here might be released on work orders but they were still convicted felons.

Kuroo’s steps automatically slowed down when he heard a familiar deep voice over the background noise of a full building. He could feel the eyes of other convicts on him, Officer Bokuto Koutarou gave Kuroo a beaming grin from his precarious position sitting on an unstable side table as his partner Iwaizumi Hajime frowned down at the floor. Kuroo didn’t worry too much about it, Iwaizumi’s resting face seemed to make him appear angry all the time but Kuroo knew from first hand experience that an angry Iwaizumi was terrifying.

“-need to learn to not let him get to you.” Sawamura’s voice was smooth, a balm to a burn Kuroo didn’t even knew he had. His pace slowed even further before he stopped right before Sawamura’s shared room. Kuroo tended not to come to this building very often, he did not enjoy the caged feeling he got from walking the halls even if he could come and go as he pleased. Plus he could never really get rid of the itch between his shoulders at being completed outnumbered by felons no matter if they were tagged and collared. A small part of him that he wouldn’t willingly admit to wanted to give Sawamura a space that perhaps could never be his considering doors were not allowed to be closed until lights out and then they were locked from the outside, but a place Sawamura could escape from him if need be.

Kuroo could try and lie to himself all he wanted by saying that Sawamura felt comfortable around him, that they had a good back and forth play between the two but Kuroo was essentially Sawamura’s jailer and neither of them could forget that. Sometimes Kuroo let himself push it to the back of his mind but he had no doubt that the bracers around Sawamura’s wrists and the chip in the base of his spine never allowed the thought to stray far from his mind.

“I know that.” Semi’s Eita’s voice came out, as usual, irritated. Initially Kuroo had worried the higher ups had made a mistake when they pulled Semi out of his prison cell. He had met very few people who could match the anger that burned hotly and constantly inside of the felons body. There was an unhealthy dose of envy and resentment piled on that anger too, none of which was very healthy. But that never stopped Semi from completing his job, he never strayed from his orders and he never allowed his feelings to shade his feelings or even his tone when they were out in the field.

“Then why are we having this conversation again?” There was enough amusement in Sawamura’s tone that it took away the sting of his words. Kuroo felt his shoulders relax and he rubbed at his face in pure wariness.

How did it get to this point? When did he let himself care so much for a convicted felon? Why did the mere sound of Sawamura’s voice calm and soothe him when he wanted nothing more than to pull his betrayal around him like a safety blanket. He was a goner and Kuroo knew the safest thing for him would be to turn around, take the recommended time off then ask Ukai for a new partner the following week.

Even knowing all that he still stepped forward and rapped his knuckles lightly against the fake wooden frame. Semi turned around, eyebrows pinched together and harsh words on the tip of his tongue until recognition lit his face. He carefully smoothed out his emotions and gave a short bow to Kuroo before leaving the room.

Sawamura didn’t look surprised. Actually there was no emotion at all on Sawamura’s face, which sat oddly with Kuroo. Sawamura was an emotional person, he wore those clearly to anyone who took two seconds to know him. Or perhaps that was all an act because the Sawamura Kuroo had known was not the type of person to hunt down and kill nearly a dozen people.

“How are you feeling?” Sawamura asked before Kuroo could say anything. It was probably for the best since Kuroo wasn’t sure what he wanted to say anyways. It was then that Kuroo realized that he was leaning a bit heavily on the door frame, his hand unconsciously hovered protectively over his injured side.

“Feels like I got stabbed.” Something flashed in Sawamura’s eyes before disappearing under that eerie calm facade. It took Kuroo a moment to realize what was going on, which made him admit that maybe Ukai was right and he should be at home resting. Sawamura wasn’t calm, far from it. He was burning mad and the longer Kuroo stood there the angrier Sawamura became.

Kuroo was curious to note that he didn’t feel the least bit wary in the face of that realization. Sawamura’s anger was a powerful thing, Kuroo had seen it up close and person after he had gotten stabbed. But then again that anger wasn’t really directed at him.

“I’ve never seen anyone fight like that before.” Kuroo stated honestly. Sawamura’s eyes stopped evaluating Kuroo’s stance and looked up. They were the color of a good chocolate bar, a warm brown that studied Kuroo before Sawamura stood up slowly.

“Do I scare you?” Sawamura asked. His body posture was loose, open and honest. His head was canted slightly to the side but those eyes refused to let Kuroo look away.

“I should be, shouldn’t I?” Kuroo questioned back, watching as Sawamura crossed the small bedroom to stand in front of Kuroo.

“You?” Sawamura eyes gently caressed Kuroo and he felt it down to his very soul. He tried to remain strong in his beliefs but his will was wavering. “You have nothing to fear. Not from me.” Because Kuroo wasn’t on his hit list? Would that change if Kuroo actively tried to stop Sawamura from completing that list?

Kuroo prided himself on knowing people. He studied and watched them, could tell from a half shoulder shrug or shift of their eyes what they were feeling or thinking. He knew he wasn’t perfect, that he could be wrong about people but he couldn’t convince himself he was wrong about Sawamura. Sawamura Daichi was a trained killer, he was efficient and nothing would get in his way of what he considered vengeance. But Sawamura Daichi also possessed a big heart, he cared deeply for those around him. What kind of effect did being a killer have on such a stalwart person?

Kuroo then knew that even if he got in Sawamura’s way the other man would do nothing to harm him. Sawamura did not work that way, he did not slaughter needlessly to fulfill his warped sense of justice. He planned and he thought everything through.

“Kuroo? You’re really pale, do you need to sit down?” Sawamura asked worriedly, hands hovering near Kuroo but never touching.

Kuroo clenched his injured side, ignoring the pain as realization spiked through him. It was so obvious now, part of him had known it all along but he had been too stubborn to acknowledge it. Sawamura was in love with him but he wasn’t wearing rose colored glasses, he knew what he was. A killer, a convicted convict, an assassin that was likely to add to his already numerous list. He would never take that step forward because he didn’t believe he deserved even that small slice of happiness.

Kuroo had been in love with Sawamura for a long time too. Yet he would never make a move either because of the wide chasm that existed between their statuses. He would never feel comfortable bridging that gape, always afraid he was pushing too far, asking for too much from a man who might feel like he would always have to say yes to continue to have the little bit of freedom he had.

They were doomed, the two of them. Kuroo should leave now, switch partners and be done with this. It would certainly save the two of them some heartache. But he was already in too deep, drowning to the point where there was no breath left in his battered lungs.

“I just wanted to let you know I’m taking some medical leave but I’ll be back next week.” Kuroo said instead of anything that was rattling around in his mind. He would have a couple days to come to terms with this new revelation but he knew that he wasn’t going to do anything about it.

“Good.” Sawamura’s hands dropped to his sides even as his eyes caressed Kuroo’s face. “Please take care of yourself.”

“I’ll see you next week.” Kuroo promised before pushing himself up to a standing position. He walked away, ignoring the already forming fissures in his heart. Truthfully he had been doomed from the moment he looked into those soft brown eyes so there really was no point in fighting it at this point even if he knew nothing could ever happen.

**Author's Note:**

> KuroDai 2019  
> May 10th, Day 5: Mercenaries AU / Police AU


End file.
